BAY CITY, MI — In declaring Jeffrey A. Julian II guilty of the cold-blooded murder of his girlfriend, a judge described the killing as one of the most deliberately planned in the annals of crime.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a crime as thought out as Mr. Julian’s intent to kill this woman,” said Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill on Tuesday afternoon. The 23-year-old Julian’s bench trial began around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and testimony ended about 11 a.m. Reconvening around 1:30 p.m., Gill found Julian guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and moving a dead body in the Aug. 21, 2010, death of Lynn M. Spicer, a 33-year-old mother of three sons.

“In this case, there is not only no reasonable doubt, no honest doubt, but there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the defendant is guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and the crime of removing or carrying away a dead body,” Gill said.

Spicer moved to Bay City from Endicott, N.Y., in late 2009 and started dating Jeff Julian in February 2010. They moved in together shortly thereafter, but come summer, Julian wanted to end the relationship. In a recorded conversation between Julian and friend Dustin Pirl played during the trial, Julian says he knew he had to kill her.

In the June 2010 trial of younger brother Craig A. Julian, Jeff Julian testified he considered various methods of killing Spicer before deciding on strangulation. He said he lured her outside their house the morning of Aug. 21 on the pretext of having sex.

“He bent over a kissed her neck, all the while knowing he was about to strangle the life out of her body,” Gill said.

Julian killed Spicer then buried her in a lot behind his house in the city’s Banks District.

“By his own testimony, he had been thinking of this for at least a couple of weeks,” Gill said. “He admitted having a conversation with his brother a week before the killing where he described that he wanted to get rid of her and that killing her was an option. He talked about ways to kill her with his brother.”

“He had no regard for this lady’s life,” the judge continued. “She simply didn’t fit in with his lifestyle. She didn’t fit in with his family. His friends said she gave off bad vibes. She was as disposable as a fundable piece of property, to be discarded when it has no use.”

In giving her closing argument, Bay County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Nancy E. Borushko said there was no question that the Julian brothers plotted how to kill Spicer.

“There’s absolutely no justification or mitigation for the murder of Lynn Spicer,” she said.

Czuprynski opted not to give a closing argument.

Gill is to sentence Julian at 8:30 a.m. on July 16. Julian faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Craig Julian was convicted of the same charges and is already serving his life sentence.